pinniped

The difference is that a larger, newer chain hotel likely does a better job of providing accessibility and accurately describing it on their app or website. It's not that independent hotels...or B&B's or AirBnB's or whatever...aren't built to code, it's that Marriott.com (as an example) describes exactly how accessible the hotel is.

Eastbay1K

Agreed, although my redemption price point might be a bit higher (or maybe the hotel has a very low redemption rate). My further simple fact is that I no longer need to chase status, as I have lifetime top tier in one program, and credit card mid-tier in another 2 programs, which provide all the status I need. So, if there's an appealing non-chain, I don't worry about missing out on a needed stay. What is more likely to dictate my choice of lodging is (1) Do I need a late checkout? If it isn't part of a rate, I default to the "lifetime top tier" program hotels. (2) Do I want included breakfast? If it isn't part of a rate, I default to one of two programs.

I don't avoid chain hotels. I also don't avoid independent hotels.

dulciusexasperis

Pinniped, I would say to you that your 'go to' Booking com will not get you the best price for unique independent hotels in Europe. Again, using the small boutique hotel in Switzerland I linked in my OP, I can tell you this. Your 'go to' only lists the rooms that are available to them obviously. The hotel only makes their highest priced rooms available to them. So if you look at your 'go to' for a week in June for example, you will see a price of $1962 CAD with breakfast. While in fact, the hotel will offer you direct, a standard double room for $700 CAD for the same time period. That is not to say there are not some differences in the room types obviously. But the prime differences are only in room size and price. Everything else is much the same as you can see from the photos on the hotel's own website if you wish to look.

But the real point is that with your 'go to', you are not made aware, or given the choice to make, of what kind of room you want to book from what is actually available at the hotel. So if you are comfortable with searching directly for more unique places to stay, then I would suggest you do so for all of Europe as you have been doing for the UK and France but search outside of your 'go to' site.

Also if you don't already know it, you might find the Sawday's website one you would like. https://www.sawdays.co.uk/ Unfortunately, they don't cover all countries in Europe but for those they do cover, they have some very interesting properties listed. For example, one I linked earlier in this thread was found using the Sawday's site. https://www.sawdays.co.uk/france/pic...sne/la-quincy/

In the UK, we have found properties several times that are owned by the National Trusts. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays for England and for Scotland, https://www.nts.org.uk/Holidays/Advanced-Search/
Here is one I can suggest that is right on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. https://www.nts.org.uk/Holidays/Acco...adstones-Land/ There is no better location in all of Edinburgh really. The lower floors are a museum with 2 rentals above. Here is the view from the street. https://www.theedinburghreporter.co....SGLLp00045.jpg

There are far more ways to search for unique properties than the usual suspect third party online booking sites. Many of the more unique properties aren't even on the usual booking sites.

cbn42

I think it's quite the opposite. Chain hotels are often more expensive than comparable independent locations, and it smacks of elitism to say "I won't stay anywhere other than X". Brands have standards, and demanding a brand name hotel is elitist, just like demanding brand name clothes or handbags or other products.

The "free" products you get from loyalty programs are subsidized not only by your own purchases, but those of other customers who don't use the loyalty program. If you buy bags of potatoes for $5.50 and then get one free, the cost of the free one is distributed over many thousands of bags of potatoes (and other items) sold by that merchant, not just the 10 bags you bought to earn the free one.

pinniped

By that definition, I'm an elitist in many aspects of my life. There are a wide variety of product categories where I demand certain brands, including (in a lot of cases) hotels, airlines, and rental cars.

In and of itself, that's not an elitist position.

Low Roller

dulciusexasperis

And that I think is an honest answer. which I respect Low Roller. Most people simply take the path of least resistance. In this case, do what everyone else does and the marketing tells you to do, just stick with 'easy'. Of course, sticking with 'easy' has its limitations doesn't it. It's easy to be mediocre in everything in life. How rewarding it is, is another story however.

The other factor your choice of words identifies is in, 'the quality I know I will get with that chain.' That is just another way of saying, 'low risk'. Many people often perceive risk in doing anything that strays from what the majority do.

Both 'easy' and 'low risk' combined add up to staying within our 'comfort zone'. Many people are very reluctant to as they see it, 'go outside' of their comfort zone. Other people perceive that differently, as 'growing' their comfort zone and 'growing' is always a good thing. It's all in our perception of things.

I do sometimes stay in chain hotels as I have said but never because it's 'easier' or 'low risk', only because there is no other real choice most of time, as in along US Interstates. Where there are other real choices, I prefer to look for something more interesting as in the 2 photos I included above. One nice and predictable (it's a Hilton Low Roller), the other what I hope to find when I visit the Alps. Thank goodness I don't have to spend all my life only ever staying in hotels along the US Interstates.

So I'll ask you the question I asked another poster earlier Low Roller. Which of the two hotels represented by the photos above, would you prefer to to be sitting in having a pre-dinner cocktail? The first, you can 'easily' book with Hilton. The second, you need to do a little searching for. The other poster never answered my question but maybe you will Low Roller. I live in hope.

dulciusexasperis

Easy and predictable or worth a little more effort to find?

Low Roller

dulciusexasperis

Yes, that's one way to perceive a Loyalty Program cbn42. Another way to perceive it however is that the program member pays $5.00 per bag for 11 bags while the non-member pays $5.50 every time. Both however buy all 11 bags. It's all in how you perceive it.

However it is even a bit more complicated than that. For example, you might book a hotel through some site that gives you a 'reward' for booking with them while I book the same hotel directly with the hotel. You might pay $100 per night for 10 nights and get your 11th night free. So 11 nights costs you $1000. I might pay for all 11 nights but at $90 per night for a total of $990. Your 'loyalty' cost you an extra $10 in that case. Loyalty Programs do not guarantee you that you will pay less. As you yourself said, "chain hotels are often more expensive than comparable independent locations", but it's also true that booking through 'reward' sites is often more expensive than booking directly with the hotel itself.

The potato buyer who escews a supermarket Loyalty Program might well buy at an independent grocery store for $4.50 and get 11 bags for $49.50 rather than $50. That's if they can find an independent grocery store of course. Yet another victim of the 'chain' takeover of business sadly. I don't perceive 'chain' anythings as a good thing in the long run.

Going from potatoes to bread, here is a news report on a recent scandal in Canada involving supermarket chains. Bread price-fixing: Investigation into at least 7 companies - Home | The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti | CBC Radio

Now what if the major hotel chains have been involved in a price fixing agreement for the last 14 years?

dulciusexasperis

Thanks for yet another honest answer Low Roller. I can assure you from personal experience, that the plumbing and air conditioning are indeed modern and they do take online bookings accepting Amex.

I can also assure you that it would not take 'weeks of research', let's agree you are exaggerating a bit there. I find hotels like this all the time without spending more than perhaps an hour of research to do so. They aren't hard to find when you get used to looking for them. It's like anything else, once you figure out how something works, it's easy to do. It's the getting from 'risky' to 'easy' that stops people.

I also agree others may have pictures of less positive results and that safe and easy aren't always bad things. But taking a risk is not always a bad thing either. It can get you rewards like the photos indicate that playing safe may never get you.

But here is one thing I feel pretty confident I can say to you. If you were staying at the Hilton, there is very little chance you would find the other to stop by at for a meal or drinks. The difference in their locations means that you would not be likely to venture anywhere near the second location. The Hilton is in town on the main street while the other is in a small village some miles away with no real 'draw' for tourists to visit it unless they are the kind of traveller who look for 'off the beaten path' hotels.

rickg523

A reasonable approach if what you're looking for from travel is "no surprises".
For business travel, that's exactly what I'm looking for and I use chains because between the hotel and the office, location and charm doesn't really matter that much to me. I'm going to work. Could be anywhere.
For leisure travel, I want surprises. I want to get lost, try hole in the wall restaurants, happen upon a festival or road rally. I would never choose a chain hotel for leisure travel. Too predictable and frankly indistinguishable from one another. Could be anywhere.
Boutique independents for less than three nights, short term rentals for longer stays.
It can be dicey if you don't know what you're doing. But learning how to select these sight unseen without getting burned or disappointed is a skill I've cultivated and it's worked for me over two decades of world travel. I'm actually proud of being able to do this. And it also makes even the simple act of arrival a bit like opening a wrapped present.

pinniped

Dulcius, every thread you start ends up with you picking fights with everybody in sight. What the hell? Wouldn't you be better off in OMNI P/R?

Jeannietx

Until about five years ago I would seek out 'local' lodging when out of the US. Creature comforts get more valuable as the years go by.

After a couple of really sketchy surprises we decided to stick to the points collecting hotels we book in the US when they are in the area we want to be.

We have also enjoyed Meriton service apartments in Australia.

VRBO has led us to some great condos and houses.

aquamarinesteph

Where I stay depends on so many factors, but I do not book one chain of hotel over another, especially if traveling outside the US.

I like to try something new. I have stayed in international chains overseas, but I'm willing to try something different unless the available online reviews make the place sound so horrid. Even then, I take online reviews with a grain of salt. I wanted to book into a hotel in Europe once. It had a recent stay with an awful review. Turns out that the problem was that the reviewer had to wait - gasp - more than thirty seconds for someone to acknowledge them. Then it took another two minutes to obtain the room key.

Sorry, but if that is the worst thing you can say about a place? I don't care. I can stand in line for several minutes. I consider it a virtue at this late date.